The Turning Point [Bonus Tracks 2001] [Remaster]

Performer: John Mayall
Artist: Jon Mark; Steve Thompson; Johnny Almond
Engineer: Eddie Kramer
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: John Mayall (vocals, electric & slide guitars, harmonica, tambourine, percussion); Jon Mark (acoustic guitar); Johnny Almond (flute, alto & tenor saxophones); Steve Thompson (bass). Producer: John Mayall. Reissue producer: Bill Levenson. Recorded at the Bill Graham's Fillmore East in New York, New York on July 12, 1969. Includes liner notes by Chris Welch, John Mayall, John McDermott. Digitally remastered by Suha Gur (Universal Mastering Studios East). Personnel: John Mayall (vocals, guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, harmonica, tambourine); Jon Mark (acoustic guitar); John Almond (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone). Audio Mixer: Suha Gur. Audio Remasterer: Suha Gur. Liner Note Authors: John McDermott, Jr.; John Mayall. Recording information: Bill Graham's Fillmore East, New York, NY (07/12/1969). Photographers: Bob Gordon ; Zill; Tapani Tapanainen; Barry Wentzell; John Mayall. Singer/harmonica player/guitarist John Mayall was best known as a key figure in the '60s British blues boom, fronting a band containing future members of Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and Colosseum among others. However, after releasing a number of rock-edged electric blues albums, Mayall changed direction in 1969. Recorded live a New York's Fillmore East, THE TURNING POINT finds Mayall fronting an all-acoustic four-piece including guitarist Jon Mark and sax player Johnny Almond, who would later gain renown as the progressive rock outfit Mark-Almond. With the new format allowing for a greater degree of subtlety, Mayall offers a blend of blues, folk, and jazz, seamlessly mixed into a new paradigm. Lest you forget that this was 1969, things open up with the pro-pot anthem "The Laws Must Change." The centerpiece of the album, and a Mayall concert staple thereafter, is "Room to Move," a breathless, frenetic number where Mayall shows off his harp chops and gets the audience worked up as only a real blues man can. Recorded just after Mick Taylor departed for the Rolling Stones, Mayall eliminated drums entirely on this live recording. With mostly acoustic guitars and John Almond on flutes and sax, Mayall and his band, as his typically overblown liner notes state, "explore seldom-used areas within the framework of low-volume music." But it does work. The all-original material is flowing and melodic, with long, jazzy grooves that don't lose sight of their bluesy underpinnings. Lyrically, Mayall stretches out a bit into social comment on "The Laws Must Change" on this fine, meditative mood album. The 2001 CD reissue is a definite upgrade, though perhaps not enough to make you rush out and buy a new copy, in its addition of three previously unreleased bonus tracks from the same performance. Those are all respectable songs that fit in well with the rest of the set, particularly "Sleeping by Her Side" with its catchy and dreamy flute line, and the brisk "Don't Waste My Time," which has a nearly country & western feel. The newly added historical liner notes are another plus. ~ Richie Unterberger

Like most British blues fanatics in the early '60s, John Mayall took his cues primarily from the stars of Chicago's electric blues scene. Both with the Bluesbreakers and later on his own, Mayall played a large role in introducing white audiences to electric blues. He was a leader in the emerging blues-rock movement, and his bands were an early proving ground for a number of future stars--Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce of Cream, Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, and Peter Green, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.

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